Léim offered the possibility to young professionals to get training, develop their international practice and work on new projects.

Léim was an innovative piece of action research with the participation of 10 selected young professionals. The concept emerged from the EDN working group Emerging Dance Leaders. The programme was built on the principles of mobility, exchange of knowledge, exposure to different artistic communities, audiences and local contexts. It involved 10 participants from 5 countries drawn from the spheres of dance management, production and curation.

Léim was structured into 3 modules including:

  • group training sessions focussed on different aspects of dance infrastructure and management,
  • individual work placements in partner venues,
  • delivery and implementation of participant projects at partner venues to experiment with new formats.

It engaged in mentoring and support for professional development through the project partners and from external facilitators engaged in the project.

Key outcomes

Built upon principles of sharing and exchange of artistic and managerial approaches in the development of dance practices, participants had access to an extensive international network of artists, cultural operators and institutions through which they got the chance to learn and present themselves as active cultural players. Mobility, transfer of knowledge, exchange of information and exposure to different artistic communities, audiences and local contexts were the main principles upon which this professional development opportunity was implemented.

Facts and figures
  • 10 participants from 5 European countries (Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain)
  • 2 conferences
  • 1 performance installation
  • 3 guided, curated tours
  • 13 perfomances in 3 cities (Bassano del Grappa, Dublin, Düsseldorf)
  • 62 artists employed
  • 1624 audience members
Online resource

www.leimproject.eu contains a toolkit summarising the learning from the project as well as information on each of the 3 projects which were managed, curated and delivered by the project participants: Mind your Step, Tabi and Walk Me.

Watch the resume of the project in video.

Partners & Funders

Under the leadership of Dance Ireland (IE), Léim involved Centro per la Scena Contemporanea Bassano del Grappa (IT), Dance House Lemesos (CY), Mercat de les Flors Barcelona (ES), Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf (DE).

This project was co-funded by the Culture Programme (2007-2013) of the European Union.

Düsseldorf I Germany

Mercat de les Flors

Casa de la Dansa

Barcelona I Spain
Dublin I Ireland
Limassol I Cyprus

Centro per la Scena Contemporanea

CSC Bassano del Grappa

Bassano del Grappa I Italy